BY BROCK SHERIDAN

Florida-bred stakes-winner Seminole Chief stuck a head in front from between horses at the top of the stretch then held off late closer Andthewinneris to take the ninth and final race at Churchill Downs Wednesday, a $75,000 claiming event at a mile on the turf. Making his first start for trainer Joe Sharp, Seminole Chief won against nine other 4-year-olds and older to earn $45,460, the winner’s share of the $85,868 in prize money.

Let go at odds of 4-1, Seminole Chief and jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. raced second, just behind 7-2 favorite Gilded Cracken through honest splits of :23.41 and :47.82 on the firm turf. Seminole Chief went at Gilded Cracken around the second turn and hit the stretch in tandem with the leader and fellow Florida-bred Beef Winslow. He put away those two rivals in the final sixteenth and hit the wire nearly a length in front of a late running Andthewinneris. Seminole Chief finished in 1:34.11 while Andthewinneris was another three-parts of a length ahead of Tapit Shoes in third. Gilded Cracken, Beef Winslow, Westside Tide, In a Jam, Antares, Big to Do and California Burrito completed the order of finish.

Owned by Bradley R. Grady and David Grund, Seminole Chief paid $10.96 to win.

It was the first win in four starts this year for the 5-year-old gelded son of Girvin and his best race since finishing second to Neoequos in the $75,000 Sunshine Turf for Florida-breds at Gulfstream Park on January 17. A bad start resulted in an off-the-board finish in an upper level, $62,500 optional claiming on the Gulfstream Park grass in February.

His stakes wins both came at Gulfstream in last year’s $158,000 Appleton (Listed) on the grass in March and in the 2023 In Reality division of the FTBOA Florida Sire Stakes on dirt.

Bred in Florida by Brad and Misty Grady, Seminole Chief is out of Secret Song by Dunkirk and improved his career ledger to six wins with a second and two thirds in 16 starts. He has lifetime earnings of $493,378.

Seminole Chief is a graduate of the 2023 Ocala Breeders’ Sales June Sale where HND Bloodstock took him for $80,000 out of the Bobby Dodd consignment.

Return to the June 18 issue of Wire to Wire